flashing lights and front panels

[NEP.FOUTS at ames-vmsb.ARPA]

It hasn't been all that long since there were flashing lights and front
panels.  My first PDP 11/70 was delivered with the standard front panel,
which included the lights.  Each of the operating systems that it ran
from time to time (Unix V6, RSTS/E, RSX11-M and RT11) each had been
hacked so that their idle loops played patterns on the panel.  Not only
could you tell how busy the machine was by looking at the speed of the
loop, but you could tell which OS was up by the type of pattern it was
generating.

Most of the local staff suffered from severe withdrawl when DEC put the
RDC panel in and took the lights out.

Several months later, I was working in the machine room for several hours
when one of the programmers came by and asked when the 11/70 would be back
up.  Turns out it had been down the entire time I was there, but I was
hacking another machine and never noticed.

Too bad we can't get the human engineering boys to give us the lights back.

(Can you say "grep"?  I knew you could!)
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